6 most appealing announcements at E3 2015 by Microsoft and Sony

It’s that time of the year when you see best of Entertainment unleashed upon us by some of the largest names in business. It’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) time, yeah right! On the first day of the kick ass event, it was Microsoft and Sony that probably awed everyone present with their glitzy and futuristic announcements. While Sony overwhelmed all in attendance by announcing one game after the other; Microsoft was the big daddy on the day with a couple of announcements, which surely got Sony thinking what better they could do at the event. Interesting? Well, without holding you further then, here are six most appealing announcements by Microsoft, followed by Sony.

From Microsoft

Backward Compatibility

Hell yeah; if Xbox One was what you were gunning for, here is just another reason you should go ahead. It’s the biggest announcement – and a reason enough for you. Come this winter, Xbox One will be compatible with over a hundred Xbox 360 games, this thanks to the new backward compatibility feature announced by Microsoft. Interestingly, preview members can get the taste of compatibility feature right away.

At its announcement, Microsoft showed demo of how the backward compatibility will work on the Xbox One, with titles including Mass Effect.

This backward compatibility (if you thought limited to 100 odd games was shitty); it’s any day better than PlayStation Now Service introduced by Sony. PS Now Service is only limited to a few PS3 titles and is pretty expensive.

Minecraft on Microsoft HoloLens

Microsoft’s HoloLens – the same completely untethered and transparent holographic headset that fascinated us at CES 2015; it was brought out on stage at E. The holographic computer was used to demo with Minecraft – the Lego-style building game. The augmented reality headset was used to create a pixilated world on a coffee table using simple voice and gesture commands. This was just a teaser, more about the augmented reality Minecraft will be revealed later this summer.

Microsoft partners with Valve – a giant leap in Virtual Reality

Microsoft announced partnership with Valve – that’s working on HTC on Vive virtual reality headset. This partnership means Microsoft is coming all guns blazing into the VR world.

World already knows – Oculus Rift, the VR headset, now owned by Facebook, will support Xbox One and Windows 10. And this Microsoft and Valve partnership means Vive will be compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 – Sony are you listening. Reality check – Sony’s Project Morpheus VR headset is only compatible with PlayStation 4 console and vice versa.

From Sony

Finally the Last Guardian is here

In a shocker of an announcement first up, Sony announced that the much anticipated conclusion of the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus trilogy will be here for gamers to try their hands on the PlayStation 4 next year. Sony showed a high-tech cinematic gameplay demo of the game, which has been in development for almost ten years and has been coming at every E3 event.

Final Fantasy VII remake

Ever since the Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997, gamers have been demanding a remake of the game. Sony seems to have just answered gamers in the affirmative with announcement that work has started for remake of the game aptly called ‘Final Fantasy VII remake’. Sony announced that the remake is finally happening with a demo of the game at its press conference at E3. There is no word yet on when the game will be released, but we learn that it will be available for the PlayStation 4.

Project Morpheus headgear

All virtual reality buffs, including myself would have seen E3 2015 as the platform for some real news on Sony’s Project Morpheus VR headset. But there was nothing concrete coming from Sony about the PlayStation-based headset, which is expected to release next year.

Bharat writes about latest gadgets, toys, robots and new technologies across various platforms. In addition to reporting and reviewing new products and technologies, he spends too much time digging the internet for endless questions. He's a die-hard football fan and a big foodie who wants to host Man v. Food some day.